With assistance from the Kentucky Speedway and local Coast Guard Auxiliary member Phillip Bouckaert, who also belongs to the Kentucky Club at the track, the 14 members of the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Obion will have the opportunity to come to the track on Friday, June 18. They will be able to watch qualifying for the Meijer 300 NASCAR Busch Series race to be held the next night, meet Team Coast Guard driver Justin Labonte and get a close look at the No. 44 Coast Guard Shield of Freedom Dodge. The Obion, which has it’s homeport in Owensboro, Ky., is a 65-foot Buoy Tender that patrols 605 miles of the Ohio River and is responsible for maintaining 233 navigational aids and servicing 272 buoys. Coast Guard buoy tenders are often overlooked as to their importance compared to more visible search and rescue teams often seen in the news. With commerce on the Ohio River moving more tonnage each year than goes through the Panama Canal, it is easy to see what impact the work of the Obion means to the economy of the cities along the river it services that include Cincinnati, Louisville, Evansville, Paducah and Owensboro. When Bouckaert heard that the Obion would be coming up the river with a stop planned just a few miles from the speedway at the Coast Guard Auxiliary port near Warsaw, Ky., Friday June 18, he went to work to see if he could arrange for them to get to visit the track, see the Coast Guard car and meet Labonte, even though they would be heading up the river on Saturday and not be able to attend the actual race. Track officials, eager to support one of the nations military services, cooperated with Bouckaert and Team Coast Guard for the crew to make the visit. The Meijer 300 Presented by Oreo will be the sixth Busch Series race of sixteen planned for Labonte and Team Coast Guard on this year’s schedule. It is their only stand-alone event as all of the other races scheduled are companion events with NEXTEL Cup Series races. Justin has not raced at Kentucky Speedway before but did get to attend a test at the track in May with his father, two-time Nextel Cup Series champion, Terry Labonte.(Labonte Motorsports PR)(6-17-2004)
